Kristin Chenoweth, the musical comedy star who just finished a Broadway run in The Apple Tree, will host the 52nd Annual Drama Desk Awards at the F.H. LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center May 20 at 9 PM.

Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth

The awards ceremony will be taped for subsequent broadcast on PBS stations nationwide. The nominations will be announced April 26. The Drama Desk is an organization of theatre critics, writers and editors that honors all areas of New York theatre, including Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway.

In The Apple Tree, Chenoweth reprised her 2005 New York City Center Encores! turn in the central roles of Eve, Princess Barbara and Ella. She has also appeared on Broadway in Wicked (Tony nomination), You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Steel Pier and Epic Proportions. Her Off-Broadway credits include Scapin, Dames at Sea, The Fantasticks and A New Brain and she has appeared in the Encores! series in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and Strike Up the Band.

Chenoweth starred in the sitcom "Kristin," which lasted six episodes on NBC in 2001. Her other TV credits include "The West Wing," "Frasier," "Sesame Street," Marian in "The Music Man" and Lily in "Annie." She is the inspiration for the character of Harriet Hayes in the NBC drama "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," created by Aaron Sorkin. Chenoweth recently signed on to star in ABC's "Pushing Daisies," a pilot under consideration for next season's schedule.

Chenoweth's film credits include "Bewitched," "The Pink Panther," "RV," "Deck the Halls," "Running With Scissors" and a bit role as a TV interviewer in "Stranger Than Fiction." She is also a recording artist and opera singer who had a solo show earlier this year at the Metropolitan Opera, and will make her Met opera debut as Samira in the revival of John Corigliano's Ghosts of Versailles, scheduled to open in March 2010.